Lone Peak boys lacrosse doesn’t let up, routs Pleasant Grove in 6A playoffs
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- Lone Peak players congratulate junior Seth Lambert (left) after he scored a goal during the 6A playoff game against Pleasant Grove in Highland on Thursday, May 16, 2024.
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- A Lone Peak player takes a shot during the 6A playoff game against Pleasant Grove in Highland on Thursday, May 16, 2024.
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- Lone Peak junior Seth Lambert celebrates after he scored a goal during the 6A playoff game against Pleasant Grove in Highland on Thursday, May 16, 2024.
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- A Lone Peak player takes a shot during the 6A playoff game against Pleasant Grove in Highland on Thursday, May 16, 2024.
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- Pleasant Grove players celebrate scoring a goal during the 6A playoff game against Lone Peak in Highland on Thursday, May 16, 2024.
The Lone Peak boys lacrosse team knew it was capable to defeating Pleasant Grove in its 6A playoff game in Highland on Thursday.
After all, the Knights had defeated the Vikings, 14-1, earlier in the season in Region 3 play.
But this is the playoffs and strange things can happen.
“We talked about that as a team beforehand,” Lone Peak head coach Rich Farr said. “We beat them before and we beat him by a fair bit before, but we did not want to get caught in a trap and come out and play sloppy. Anytime you play a team a second time, they’ve had the chance to scout you and come at you with some different things. We wanted to come out and put our mark on it from the very beginning.”
The Knights did just that, never allowing the Vikings to get any real momentum. Lone Peak scored the first nine goals, then kept up the pressure until it finished off the 19-1 win to advance to the next round.
“I was happy with how we played,” Farr said. “We played a lot cleaner. We’re getting better. Our offense is starting to move the ball a little faster but our transition game is our strength right now.”
Farr was also pleased with the Knight defense, which has been a foundation all year long.
“We knew our defense was going to be strong this year,” he said. “We had most of our defense returning from last year and we had a good defense last year.”
He explained that the offense was the biggest concern for Lone Peak as they needed to find ways to get points on the board.
“Our offense was where we were really worried,” Farr said. “We knew we had to focus on offense. We’ve been working on hard. We had one of our best defensive poles last year switch to offense, Ashton Gifford. He’s our lefty attack and he’s been one of the leaders of our team. From the beginning we were rough but our offense has just been getting better. We are young on offense still so we’re excited about it.”
But after all the work and a few ups and downs during the season, now it’s tournament time and the Knights are looking to make the most of it.
“It gets a lot tougher,” Farr said. “We play Farmington on Saturday and they’re a great team. I feel like if we play the way we’re capable of we can play with anybody. But those teams that are left in it, they’re all tough. I think if you look at the top five or six seeds in the tournament this year, any one of them can beat the others.”
But he still likes Lone Peak’s chances.
“I feel good about where we’re at,” Farr said. “We’ve just been getting progressively better. I feel like we’re playing in our best shape right now. We’ve got some of our players who were out that are back and healthy. It is just going to come down to how we can play now because rest of the teams there are going to be tough.”
The Knights will face Farmington in the next round of the 6A tournament on Saturday.
